And folks who live near Radford, Virginia – keep your eyes and ears out for a chance to catch Bob and his uke on stage.

Here is one example for November 15th, 2014 –

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Now back to the original post …

Each year we donate a handcrafted Lichty instrument to be raffled by LEAF, with all proceeds going towards their stellar arts/music educational programming for children. This year Jay felt inspired to build a ukulele (in previous years we’ve donated a guitar) and his inspiration was fueled by a piece of wood.

Some background … While Jay builds handcrafted guitars and ukuleles with beautiful, resonate woods from around the world, we’ve been on the hunt for good sources of local woods. Some species found locally include sycamore, cherry, walnut, beech, maple and oak. We also love the idea of building with salvaged materials whenever possible. Recently we had the good fortune of finding a few select pieces of oak that had once been the flooring of an ancient western North Carolina mountain cabin.

Jay has been dying to build something with the oak and he also wanted to keep with the idea of repurposing. To that end, he has crafted a ukulele for the 2014 LEAF raffle out of the “mountain cabin oak” for the back and sides, the soundboard is Sinker Cedar (wood reclaimed from naturally fallen trees in western Canadian that were sunken in the temperate forest bogs) and the neck is carved out of an old mahogany bedpost.

How does it look, sound, feel and smell? Like a dream!

Retail Value: $4,135

Win a Ukulele Audio/Video samples

Hope (Jay Lichty)

Out on the Kalahari (Jay Lichty)

There's a Kind of Hush (Les Reed and Geoff Stephens)

I've Got Rhythm(George Gerswin)

Both Sides Now (Joni Mitchell)

Saturday Afternoon (Jay Lichty)

Lichty Ukulele Raffle Slideshow

Win a Ukulele – Here are the details …

Here is how you can win a ukulele – this ukulele! – while supporting LEAF Community Arts, a wonderful western North Carolina non-profit with a global reach:

How Many Tickets Can I Buy? The more the better! We hope you will join the many folks making a yearly contribution to LEAF in the amount of $50 to $500 via Lichty instrument raffle ticket purchases. How many other organizations offer you an opportunity to win a Carolina handcrafted instrument with your contribution dollars? Total ticket sales are limited to 500.

Where do your dollars go when you support LEAF Community Arts?

41,000 + youth served through LEAF Schools & Streets since 2004
Annually providing 40+ programs to over 5,000 participants through LEAF Schools & Streets
900+ youth served through LEAF International since 2006
Currently serving in 10 countries through LI
LEAF now operates the Easel Rider, a mobile art lab, owned and previously operated by the City of Asheville’s Parks & Recreation Department. The Easel Rider serves over 5,000 individuals per year.